He is risen indeed!

Hope everyone had a glorious Easter. We had a wonderful and meaningful Holy Week.

I'm reading a manuscript for a book on the church calendar, (it's not yet been released). Reading this lovely book by Kimberly Conway Ireton, I learned that Easter is not just a day, but a season in the liturgical year. It begins Easter Sunday and continues for fifty days (until Pentecost). Fifty days to remember and celebrate the resurrection, and the new life that it brings us.

What can you do over the next fifty days to celebrate and remember the Risen Lord?

Sabbath Stories

I hope that all of you will take the time to read the comments from the post asking for Sabbath stories. So many of you had inspiring stories to share.
Several people sent me their story via e-mail, and I wanted to share a few over the next few days. Here's some of what Christine from Michigan shared with me. If you think you can't do Sabbath with small children, you need to read her story:

Hi Keri - Ever since I read your book Breathe a year ago, we have been trying to practice the Sabbath.
We do not call it Sabbath, rather family day. We spend the day going to church and Sunday School in the morning, and the rest of the day is family activities. I love asking the kids, who are now 5 and 6 years old, "What do you want to do today?" That makes them feel so special.

Some days are restful, with walks in a nearby parks and reading, other days we may go to the movies. It is our day to spend as a family, without doing projects and running around. Some weekends are hard, and we are not perfect, and we may end up having to go to the grocery store. But, we don't give up and look for another day. It is getting easier for me as a mom to do.

At first it was very difficult, as I have the worker mom personality - when I sit down, I think of everything else I should be doing, the laundry, cleaning, packing lunches, email, etc. I just need to remember the fun as a family we are having, the renewal of keeping God in the center of our lives, and the memories we are building.

The busier we get as a family, the more important it is to remember to always keep God in the center of our lives.

In your Breathe book you wrote about not having your children in every activity. This made a major impact on me. We have turned down competitive gymnastics for our kids, as they are so young. By keeping your priorities as a family in line, (family meal time and discussions, daily reading of the Bible) it helps to free up family and spiritual growth time. Now that I have reduced some kid activities, I have begun to look at my life and look to where I can cut back church and school volunteer commitments.


My kids' favorite activity on this day is go to a nearby nature park. We take a long 2 mile walk through fields and over a bridge in the woods, with adventures all the way. Finding fish off the dock, throwing stones, taking pictures, and enjoying all that God has made. It really renews your spirit and gets you ready for the upcoming week. We generally pack snacks, and on the way back we take the path by a huge hill. We all climb to the top, see how far we can see, and have a race to the bottom.


Thank you for your inspiration for you have giving me the tools and ideas to change my life to a more relaxed walk with God and with my family.

Sincerely,
Christine

Study guides

Thanks to all of you who commented or e-mailed me about your Sabbath practices. I especially appreciated hearing from readers who began to practice Sabbath keeping after reading my 2005 book, Breathe: Creating Space for God in a Hectic Life.
Many of you have asked about using Breathe for a group study. Groups across the country have enjoyed reading and discussing this book. To help you, I created a free downloadable study guide. The link is on the right side of this page, or you can click here to access it.
for those of you who are reading Oxygen together, I have a leader's guide for that on my website.
Thanks again to everyone who responded to my Sabbath stories question!

Tell me your Sabbath story!

Do you practice Sabbath? I am working on a book on Sabbath—we are in the editing stage. This book, Rest: Living in Sabbath Simplicity, will be out later this year. One thing this book needs is the perspective of a few more real people.
So, if you have opinions or experience on Sabbath, I’d love to hear from you, as soon as possible. Just comment below. Here’s what I’d like to know:
When you were growing up, were there certain activities that were prohibited or encouraged on Sundays? Which denomination or tradition were you a part of?
Maybe you grew up in a tradition where Sunday meant going to church twice (morning and evening) and a day of prohibitions in between (no playing, no work, no movies, no shopping). What was required, what was prohibited?
Do you take a Sabbath? What do you do or not do on that day? How is your Sabbath similar or different from the Sundays of your childhood?
Are your weekends busy, or relaxed? Perhaps you rest on either Saturday or Sunday and just have never applied the label “Sabbath” to those days.
Does your church support your desire to have a day of rest? How about your family?

I really would like to hear your stories, and I’m hoping I can include a few in the book. But if you want to share, do it right away. I need to hear from you in the next couple of days, if possible.